We’ll break barriers to deliver affordable housing – Dangiwa

The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Arc. Ahmed Dangiwa, said he would break systemic barriers to deliver affordable housing to Nigerians.

Dangiwa, who spoke at a dinner organised in his honour by Housing Development Advocacy Network (HDAN) in Abuja yesterday, said all Nigerians deserve access to decent, quality and affordable housing.

He said, “I believe that what we all came to share over time is the belief and conviction that all Nigerians deserve to have access to decent, quality, and affordable housing and that as housing industry stakeholders, it is up to us in our various capacities to do things differently and collectively work towards breaking all the systemic barriers that are preventing that from becoming possible.”

The minister said he has been meeting with senior staff and heads of agencies under the ministry with a view to unveiling a “Strategic Housing and Urban Development Blueprint which will contain details of our priorities, initiatives, reforms, and plans.”

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He reiterated that the responsibility of the ministry was to create an enabling environment that would encourage private sector investment as well as formulate policies that would empower agencies under his supervision to perform their functions optimally.

Dangiwa also said as a built environment expert, he understood all the challenges in the sector and was determined to fix them, leveraging on the support, expertise and knowledge of industry stakeholders.

Meanwhile, stakeholders in the sector through presidents of professional institutes and private developers pledged their support to the minister.